A Blend of Hope and Skepticism

I'm going to listen to our President tonight with as open a mind as I will be able to muster , but I must admit there is a dose of skepticism lurking within me nurtured by the fear that he has been sold a bill of political goods by those who advise him.

Bob Herbert in the New York Times today talked of his skepticism about the Obama plan to send tens of thousands of American troops into Afghanistan. I share Herbert's skepticism. This war has gone on for nine years and has been a failure. Barack Obama ran as a candidate who had opposed the Bush/Cheney preemptive war in Iraq based on deliberate lies and distortions and who at that time agreed with those critics who said that terrorism would flourish because of precipitous military action on the part of the United States. True Bush was faced with his feeling that he had to make some response to the horror of 9/11 and not appear helpless and unwilling to act. Cheney and Rumsfeld saw the chance to influence the then President to take bold action, even though Iraq had nothing to do with the attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.

President Obama will supposedly tell the nation of his reasoning and will explain his specific goals, his 'end game,' and how he will get us out of this complex mess that affects a number of Middle East nations. I hope while he's at it he can explain his definition of what success over there is. What is it we are attempting to do, really, and how will we know when it has been done? When the last American troops are brought home in a few years what will be left to be seen in that region of the world, and how will what is left be different from what we see there now?



Many honest and thoughtful people were drawn to accept the idea of going into Iraq because of the Bush/Cheney insistance that Saddam Hussein not only had weapons of mass destruction but supported the terrorists. People whom I respect like Tom Friedman and Hillary Clinton and scores of others bought into what the White House pushed, while Saudi Arabia was as much more a danger to us than Iraq, just as Pakistan today is a greater threat to the world than Afghanistan.

I voted for President Obama and would like very much to support him for a second term of office. I can understand the fear anyone in his position would feel about being charged as weak and ineffectual when the country faces great danger. The generals must have made a strong case to cause Obama to plan to send the reported thirty plus thousands of troops into this war. We face other pressing problems too, and he must continue to press for the centerpiece of his program, healthcare, and now the crisis of unemployment. I'm afraid that the mistake of this projected Afghanistan action may further dilute his ability to deal with these urgent needs.

God help the President, God help the nation, and God help us all.